Vengeance (23 page)

I threw my arms around Aiden’s neck. “We did it.”

He lifted me off the floor and spun me around. He stopped short and put me down when Mum, Jack, Lucas, Gemma, and Chelsea came into the hall at the end where Harry was sitting on the floor.

“Look who we caught,” I said in the most innocent voice I could muster. I hoped my mum wasn’t going to come down on us too hard for facing Nathan on our own.

They all gaped at me then at Nathan.

Gemma broke the silence. “He’s not dead, is he?”

Aiden shook his head. “Definitely not dead.”

Jack stepped forward. “How about you two come tell us what’s going on?” He didn’t feel comfortable leaving Nathan there alone, so he bent and picked him up as if he weighed no more than a child, then slung him over his shoulder. Jack turned to Aiden. “Why did you knock him out?”

“Because I couldn’t guarantee he would still be alive if I went inside his head.”

Jack nodded. “Fair enough.”

With a grin to match my own, Aiden took my hand and squeezed it tightly. “I guess I better call my parents.”

“I guess so.”

Aiden pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled Dave’s number while we followed Jack into the lounge.

Within seconds, Anna and Dave arrived. “What the hell?” Dave said.

Anna was speechless as she looked at Nathan’s body that Jack had dumped in the middle of the room.

“Sit down, and we’ll try to explain everything,” Aiden said, holding out his hand toward the sofas where the U.S. clan was already seated.

We waited until Anna and Dave sat down before we started.

Aiden took a deep breath. “As you can all see, Nathan’s no longer like us. We’ve injected the drug into his system, and it took effect immediately.”

“Is that why he’s like that?” Anna asked.

Aiden shook his head. “I knocked him out.”

Everyone thought Aiden had meant he had mentally, not physically, knocked him out. But I didn’t think they needed to be corrected.

Dave leaned forward in his seat, his elbows resting on his knees. “Why didn’t you wait for us?”

“Because Nathan paid us a little visit while we were asleep,” Aiden explained.

Almost everyone sucked in a sharp breath.

Aiden shot me a sideways glance. “He was trying to stab Jade again.”

“Oh, my God,” Mum murmured, putting her hand over her mouth.

“I’m okay, Mum,” I said. “Aiden saved me… again.”

Anna phased out and reappeared in front of her son. “Are you okay?” she asked, scanning his body for evidence of any wounds.

Aiden put his hand on his mother’s shoulder. “Mum. I’m okay.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Then if you didn’t take the knife for her, how did you stop him?”

“I, uh…” Aiden was at a loss for words.

“I think he shoved him,” I said. “And when I say
shoved
, I mean Nathan went flying through the closed window.” Everyone wondered why Nathan hadn’t phased out before he hit the window. “Nathan got distracted by Aiden’s new ability. He didn’t even think to transport before he hit the glass, and to tell you the truth, I was too stunned to do anything either. I think Aiden has telekinesis.”

Various profanities were muttered as they tried to take in what I was suggesting.

“Have you ever done anything like that before?” Dave asked, wondering how he hadn’t noticed his son’s special ability.

Aiden laughed. “No. It’s not like I ever thought ‘Hey, I’m gonna try to see if I can move something without touching it.’”

“Have you done it again?” Kai asked.

Aiden dropped his smile and looked at the magazines on the coffee table. Everyone watched in awe as the magazines slowly lifted off the table until a twenty inch gap appeared between the two. Just as easily as they rose, the magazines returned to their rightful place on the table. “I guess that answers your questions then, doesn’t it?”

“Why is it you two are so different?” Lucas asked, trying to concentrate on anything besides his father slumped on the floor.

Aiden shrugged. “That’s something we can find out later. Right now, we need to put Nathan away before he tries anything again.”

“Lucas isn’t doing so good with seeing this,”
I said silently to Aiden.

“Can you call Kai and see if he’s found somewhere for Nathan and if he can organise to have him transferred there immediately?” Aiden asked his father.

Dave pulled out his phone, and a minute later, Kai phased in.

“Holy shit,” Kai said. “When did this happen?”

“Just now,” I said. “Are we all good to go with the psych ward?”

Kai tore his eyes from Nathan. “Yep. We’re all good to go. We just need to get him back to England.”

“Good. Can we take him there now?” I asked.

“Sure—”

Dave cut Kai off. “
We
can take him there
. You
two
can stop worrying about him.”

“I can’t stop worrying ’til I know he’s locked up,” I said. “I want to see it.”

“There’s nothing to see,” Kai said. “We were going to knock him out for the transfer, but it looks like you’ve already done me the favour.” He gestured at Nathan’s body.

“We’ll call you when he’s been admitted,” Dave said.

“And I can even show you the video surveillance of him on the inside if you’d like.”

I nodded. But before we left, there was something I needed to know. I looked down at Nathan. Seeing him lying on the floor, completely defenceless, brought a sense of peace to me. He was no longer a threat. And he could no longer keep any secrets from me.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed my way into his mind and searched through his memories. I went back as far as was relevant to me. Mum had been honest about how I was created. Nathan had not only tried to do testing on me when I was inside her womb, he had also wanted to inject me with something to enhance my abilities after I was born.

Mum had left him, and that was where the fun began. She hadn’t exactly lied to me about what happened after she left. She just didn’t know the truth. Nathan had stolen some of her memories, which accounted for the black patches I had seen in her mind.

Nathan had completely lost it when he found out she’d left him. Then, he found Anna and Dave. I was shocked to discover that Nathan had been experimenting on Aiden as well. Aiden was the post-birth test subject.

I glossed over the next part of his memories as they were nothing but a race to find my mother and his hate for her because she constantly gave him the slip. I searched until I found the day I met Aiden at the beach. Nathan had been there watching our first encounter. I just about stopped breathing when I realised Nathan hadn’t made Aiden show any interest in me at that point. Aiden had liked me on his own. When he left me to go back to his towel, Nathan caught up with him. Nathan had been thrilled with how easy it would be to get the two of us together, and he even thought we would’ve done it without his intervention, but he wasn’t going to take his chances. He made sure that Aiden would walk back and ask me out for coffee.

All I wanted to do was jump out of Nathan’s head, kiss Aiden, and tell him how sorry I was for stripping him of his
true
love for me. If I hadn’t have been so devastated when I’d heard Nathan at lunch that day thinking how he made Aiden love me, I would’ve saved us a lot of heartache.

Next, I found more of my mother’s memories he’d stripped when he held her hostage. My mother hadn’t just been encouraging Aiden to constantly stay with me after Chelsea went missing. Her manipulations had started much earlier. Mum had been relying on Aiden to keep me safe while she was off trying to prevent my father from finding me.

The only other thing in Nathan’s memories that took me by surprise was the frequency that he had watched us. He had cameras set up everywhere and had viewed me every day for the past few years. The guy was a frigging creep.

I withdrew from his mind. “Take him away.”

Dave and Kai nodded.

“Thanks.” I turned my back to them. “Let’s go…” I paused, not knowing where to go.

Aiden put his hands on my hips. “How about we go on that holiday we’ve been talking about?”

I smiled. “I’d like that.”

Gemma jumped off the couch. “Me, too. Me, too.”

“Sit back down,” Mum said. “You’ve got school tomorrow.”

Gemma screwed up her face. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“We’ll come visit you after school’s out,” I said.

Gemma smiled. She was too choked up with knowing she finally had a sister that cared about her to protest any further.

I put my hand on Aiden’s chest and slowly traced my fingers over where the scar was under his shirt. “Let’s go.”

“Hey,” Chelsea said, “what about us?”

“What about you?” I said with a serious tone.

Chelsea looked taken aback for a moment until she realized I was only joking. She got up off sofa and walked over to us. “You’re a bitch, you know that?”

I smiled. “I know.”

“You coming?” Chelsea asked Lucas.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

I turned to face Mum, Jack, Harry, and Anna. “We’ll be in touch soon.” I waved at Gemma. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“Just get going, will you?” Anna said with a laugh.

Aiden laced his fingers through mine and transported us to our villa in Thailand. The red and orange sunset danced across the ocean.

“Where the hell are we?” Chelsea asked.

“We’re in Thailand,” I said. “This is where we were staying when we first left the coast.”

She opened the glass sliding door and stepped onto the balcony with Lucas in tow.

Chelsea put her hands on the balustrade. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but there’s no way in hell I’m staying here with you two.” She glanced over her shoulder at Aiden and me. “You know, ’cause I actually want to get some sleep, and by the looks of those walls, I’m guessing they’re not very soundproof.”

I cringed. “Oh, my God, Chelsea. Did you really have to say that?”

“What?” She smirked. “I’m just putting it out there.”

Lucas laughed then quickly shut up when it hit him that Chelsea was talking about his sister. “Okay, Chels.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “We’ll go find somewhere else to stay tonight.”

I wasn’t going to argue. I wanted to talk with Aiden about some things, and having Chelsea and Lucas there would make the conversation that much more difficult.

“There’s a great hotel about ten minutes down that way.” I pointed to the right.

“Jade,” Aiden said, “how about I drop them off and come straight back?”

I scrunched up my face. “Probably a better idea, huh?”

Aiden nodded. “Much.”

I gave Chelsea a hug. “Have fun,” I whispered in her ear.

“Planning on it,” she said.

I glanced sideways at Lucas and saw him fighting back a smile. I pulled back from Chelsea. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Maybe,” she said with a cheeky grin.

I rolled my eyes. “Come here,” I said to Lucas. I wrapped my arms around my brother and said silently.
“I know you’re my brother and all, but if you break her heart, I’ll kill you.”

Lucas laughed then realised I was serious.
“I told you I won’t hurt her.”

“I know.”
I released him from my embrace. “See ya tomorrow,
bro.
”

Lucas smiled. “See ya tomorrow,
sis.
”

Chelsea laughed. “God, you two sound like idiots.
Bro. Sis
,” she mocked.

I looked at Aiden. “Take her away before I slap her one,” I said with a smile.

Aiden leaned down and kissed me on my lips. “I’ll be back soon.”

Aiden transported Chelsea, whose heart was pounding with a mixture of nerves and excitement, and Lucas, who seemed to be completely taken by my best friend. I was glad Chelsea was able to find happiness after everything that had happened to her.

Taking one last look at the sun setting over the beach, I turned around and went back inside.

Aiden was sitting on the sofa. “What took you so long?”

“That was quick,” I said with a laugh. “What did you do? Drop them and not even say goodbye?”

“Pretty much.” He got up and came over to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist, lowered his head to the crook of my neck, and kissed it softly. “‘Cause I can think of one thing I’d much rather be doing with my time than spending it with two people who didn’t want me there.”

“As much as I’d love to work on that thought, there’s something I have to talk to you about first.”

Aiden trailed kisses from my neck up to my earlobe. “Can’t it wait?”

I wanted to let my hormones take first priority, but I couldn’t. I grabbed Aiden’s hands as they wandered down to my butt and pulled them in front of me.

Aiden sighed. “You’re really going to do this, aren’t you?”

I nodded. “I am.” I pulled Aiden over to the sofa to sit.

“What is so important that it can’t wait ’til later?”

“What I saw inside Nathan’s mind.”

That got Aiden’s attention. “Was it something bad?”

“Good and bad… well, not so much bad, but just…” I twisted in my seat to face him. “When you were little, Nathan injected you with the same stuff Mum and him had used on me when I was conceived.” I thought that was a much nicer than saying, “While they were creating their perfect test-tube baby.”

Aiden’s mouth fell open. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “That’s why you’re different from all the other next gens. And that’s also why my mum and Nathan were so much more advanced as well. Nathan more so than my mum because he continued injecting himself after Mum left him.”

“Well, that would explain a few things. What about the good news?”

“Well,” I said, trying to contain my smile, “I found out what happened that day at the beach.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “When we first met?”

“Uh huh.”

“And?”

“And…” I brought down the barriers to my mind and let him see for himself. I watched as a smile spread across his gorgeous face, lighting up his eyes in the process.

“And you put me through all that when I already loved you on my own?” In one swift movement, he climbed on top of me and gently pushed my back against the seat. He slowly lowered his head until his lips were only inches from mine. “You owe me big time.”